Replying to both in the same posting here. But it depends where you are if certain things like that are unusable. Where I grew up, most people were working class or poor, so having old stuff and delayed exposure to technology were not uncommon. It also wasn't uncommon for people to listen to both old and new music. I was a band geek, so we enjoyed some very old music.

Please remember who those judgements are coming from. External achievement is all they have, so they think that's all anybody else should be measured by.

The UK's health system is probably one of the best in the world from what I understand. I've heard other stories similar to yours. One guy on NPR told of having a heart attack while he was there, and had to pay only a very small fee as a foreigner. Had he been a citizen, or on a student visa as you apparently were, his bill would have been 0. It would have bankrupted him had it happened in the US. I'm not sure about other European nations, but someone on here said the mental healthcare system in I think it was Sweden wasn't great, though the physical was good.


Int he UK, medical personnel are government employees. They have no financial incentive to prescribe unnecessary meds, or send people for unnecessary testing, surgery, or physical therapy. In most countries, it's illegal for medical staff to get the kinds of bonuses or other perks they can get here for writing X number of scripts or sell X number of devices. I find it very hard to trust doctors after some terrible personal experiences in recent times, that put me into debt twice.

I'm very glad this forum has bolstered your self-esteem. We're all here because of pain and we all want to life each other up. You didn't fail and you are not defective. You've just been enduring a toxic environment that doesn't appreciate your differences. You can't expect someone with discalculia to become a mathematician, and you can't expect an Aspie to have a healthy relationship with a malignant narcissist. Or anybody else or that matter.